Stories about Spain from July, 2012
Spain: Fighting Catalonia's Wild Fires
The terrifying fires that continue to devastate the Catalan comarca of Alt Empordà have given way to the citizens' initiative #1Català1Arbre, launched on Twitter by Oriol Puig. The goal is to "create coordination, cooperation and a strong collective consciousness until the fires are extinguished."
Greece: Photo ‘Road Trip’ Around Europe Debt Crisis
‘We Are The Pigs‘ – in reference to the derogatory PIGS acronym – is a crowdfunded photojournalism ‘road trip’ venture, to collect people's stories from European countries affected by the debt crisis. The project, started by two young Central European women journalists frustrated with the stereotypical hyperbole and abuse levelled in the media...
Spain: King's Controversial Son-in-law Gets Salary in Millions
Amid austerity cuts, the Duke of Palma and son-in-law of the King of Spain Iñaki Urdangarín's new salary has caused a scandal in the country. Urdangarín will receive a 1.5 million euro salary as well as 1.2 million euro in-kind this year, after renewing his contract with the telecommunications company Telefónica. Urdangarín is also currently being investigated for misappropriating public funds, for which he could be sentenced up to 18 years in prison.
Spain: Street Protests are Unstoppable
Since the miners arrived in Madrid on strike against the 63% cuts to their sector, demonstrations haven't stopped in Spain. We share images of the protests in Madrid, the capital city.
Spain: Deputy Apologizes for Insult
Due to the outcry produced by parliamentarian Andrea Fabra's declarations, she had to publicly retract [es] (PDF) and present a written apology after having declared “¡qué se jodan!” (“Fuck them!”) when President Mariano Rajoy announced the harshest social cuts in the history of Spanish democracy. The letter is an apology to the House of Representatives...
Spain: Controversy After Supreme Court Nullifies Catalan Immersion
The debate over language in Catalonia has heavily occupied the blogosphere, ever since Spain's Supreme Court nullified linguistic immersion for children between three and six-years-old. Linguistic immersion used to guarantee proficiency in Catalan for native speakers of other languages.
Spain: Parliamentarian Insults Millions of Unemployed People
During a meeting of congressional representatives, Parliament member Andrea Fabra, amidst applauses, yelled "fuck them!" to millions of unemployed Spanish citizens, following Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's announcement of the harshest cuts in the history of Spain's democracy.
Spain: Supporting the Miners: “Yes, Yes, They Do Represent Us!”
Thousands joined in and showed their support for Spanish miners when they arrived in Madrid after walking 400 kilometres from the north of Spain. The miners were surprised at the scale of the mobilisation, which added to the intensity of what is now known as #nocheminera (mining night).
#TwitterEnCatalà Provokes Tweets of Joy and Hate
Thousands of Catalan-speaking netizens celebrated the fact that Twitter finally speaks their language. The hashtag #twitterencatalà quickly became a trending topic in Spain.
European Union: A Survey Among Immigrants about Integration
Le café pédagogique links [pdf, fr] to the results of a survey launched in 15 cities from 7 U.E. countries, among immigrants in possession of their legal documents and with or without citizenship of their host countries. The questions were aimed at integration, which appears to be highly wished for.
